Criminal Justice
On March 17, Chinese authorities released Rebiya Kadeer, a prominent Uighur businesswoman and civic leader, on medical parole. She gained her freedom some 17 months before her sentence was to end and shortly before Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to visit Beijing. U.S. diplomats accompanied Kadeer on a flight to the United States, where she will join her family and receive medical treatment.
Rebiya Kadeer’s case has long been a significant irritant in U.S.-China bilateral diplomatic relations. The Chinese government had promised several times in the past to release Ms. Kadeer, but informed sources say that internal conflict between Xinjiang government and Communist Party authorities and central government officials prevented her release.
A special police unit in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region will monitor the relatives and business interests of exiled activist Rebiya Kadeer, according to an August 30 Radio Free Asia (RFA) report. Kadeer served over five years in prison in Xinjiang for disclosing "state secrets" contained in newspaper clippings she sent abroad. A police officer confirmed to RFA that a special unit known as the Number 307 Office, or Rebiya Kadeer Investigation Office, is operating in Urumqi. Alim Abdiriyim, Kadeer's son, told RFA that his family members must notify the 307 Office if they wish to leave the city. Police also detained two of Kadeer's nephews for a day during the week of August 26, and attempted to confiscate their passports.
Chinese authorities have begun what Human Rights Watch reports may be a politically motivated attack on the family and friends of Rebiya Kadeer, the recently released Uighur political prisoner now living in Washington, DC. Chinese authorities warned Kadeer before her release in March that her businesses and children would suffer the consequences if she revealed "sensitive" information overseas about the Muslim Uighurs. Chinese government control over the Uighurs has become increasingly repressive over the last decade, and Kadeer has pledged to bring the plight of "my children, the entire Uighur people" to the attention of the international community.
The Supreme People's Court (SPC) has called on provincial high courts to conduct hearings for all death sentence appeals beginning next year, according to a December 8 article in Xinhua. The SPC issued a Circular Regarding Further Improving Open Court Session Work in Second Instance Death Penalty Cases (translated by CECC staff) on December 7. The circular follows SPC President Xiao Yang's announcement in late October that the SPC would consolidate and reclaim its power over death penalty review as part of a Second Five-Year Reform Plan for China's courts. Court officials characterized both reforms as necessary to carry out the Second Five-Year Reform Plan's goals of ensuring greater fairness and caution in the death penalty review process.
Chinese trade officials told an October 25-28 World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting that the National People's Congress (NPC) has "no plans to amend the Criminal Code or other IP laws at this moment, although in-depth research and study in this field would continue," according to the WTO's official record of the meeting released on November 21. The comments responded to the written submissions of other WTO members that questioned the adequacy of the provisions of the Criminal Law that define intellectual property rights (IPR) offenses. The exchange was part of the fourth annual WTO Transitional Review Mechanism (TRM), which the WTO's Council on Trade Related Aspects of IPR conducted in late October.
The Chinese government's Three Gorges Project has led to the forced eviction of residents in Shengquan village, Chongqing municipality, according to a December 2 report by Radio Free Asia. Construction on the massive hydroelectric dam project began in 1993 and should be completed by 2009. Local government officials issued eviction orders on December 1, giving villagers seven days to complete procedures for temporary relocation. Villagers complained that government agents began shutting off their water supply and blocking streets as early as November 30, to force them to relocate. In addition, villagers allege that the compensation and resettlement terms offered to them are unreasonable, and that the government offers higher amounts to those with an urban household registration ("hukou") than those with a rural hukou.
Official abuse of Chinese petitioners is rampant, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) press statement and report released on December 8. Chinese citizens often petition Party and government xinfang ("letters and visits") bureaus for redress of their grievances. The HRW report notes that petitioners rarely succeed in obtaining redress, and also cites first-hand interviews with Chinese petitioners detailing official abuses, including beatings and torture.
Over the past several weeks, Chinese authorities have continued what appears to be a crackdown on free expression by detaining or imprisoning at least five more prominent intellectuals and activists.
According to an August 31 New York Times article, arrested Times researcher Zhao Yan is forbidden from seeing his family, has lost 22 pounds, and has requested a biopsy because of concern for lumps on his skin. The Ministry of State Security (MSS) not only denied the biopsy request, but also has denied Zhao's lawyer's efforts to post bail. The Times commented: "But even as China's authoritarian leaders now promise a more impartial legal system to their citizens and the multinational corporations that do business here, they continue to use the loosely defined state secrets law to single out political enemies and prevent journalists from prying into the inner workings of the top leadership of the ruling Communist Party."
Jilin provincial authorities will allow citizens to challenge internal, nonpublic regulations that administrative agencies often rely on as a legal basis for government action, according to a report appearing on the Ministry of Justice Web site. Media reports and scholars have criticized the use of such internal regulations, which are often drafted without citizen participation.
The Jilin measures allow citizens to apply to the provincial legal affairs office for review of internal local regulations and require the review to be completed within two months. The measures also authorize the legal affairs office to declare invalid those regulations that fail the review.